Enabling physics on bones?

I am wondering if it is possible to enable physics on a bone or series of bones, from my understanding of the physics can be enabled on one entity, but not its underlying bones structure?

If this is possible, an example of how to go about doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, you can.

As you said, you "normally" enable ONE entity to be controlled as physics entity. Now, if you want to enable a bone skeleton, you have to re-create the bone structure first. That means, you translate the bone setup into a hinged physics structure. You create first all bone nodes (as boxes or spheres) at the bone positions. Then you connect them one by one as it is defined in your characters bone-skeleton layout.

After recreating the skeleton, you have to disable the whole physics skeleton first. When you want to enable bone physics on your character you have to move the bone simulation first into the appropriate position (circumstanced by character position and animation frame). After posing, you enable physics and disable the whole (scripted) character control (which would affect movement and animation, etc.). While the physics skeleton is being "active", you would run a additional routine that checks the physics skeleton and its node positions. In each frame you have to reset the model and move each bone (beginning at the base-bone, because all others are affected) to the related physics node entity of the physics skeleton.

The whole thing is relatively easy compared to the bone movement and rotation, because bones are driving me mad - remember that each bone (no matter which position it has and which rotation has a 0,0,0 rotation and a 0,0,0 position when resetted. This is absolutely weird and makes everything more complex as it has to be.

I hope you got the idea.

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The whole thing is relatively easy compared to the bone movement and rotation, because bones are driving me mad - remember that each bone (no matter which position it has and which rotation has a 0,0,0 rotation and a 0,0,0 position when resetted. This is absolutely weird and makes everything more complex as it has to be.

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It's easier when you work with the kind of animation cycle the character goes through, instead of trying to match everything to the exact correct angles.

I don't know in which cases you use the physics on bones, but usually you won't even notice a slightly wrong 'morph' into physics entities when the player get's blown up and the body moves accordingly into the air or when shot back because of a shotgun burst.

There are a few key positions you have to figure out doing. Obviously a crouched enemy or player that needs ragdoll physics effects can't suddenly be standing upright the moment the physics become active and then go down using physics after being killed.

I'd really like the angle thing to change though, it does make things uncomfortable,

Cheers